Ugly!!! BETTY Down 58%!! JAY LENO SHOW Hits 1.2!!

I am – Hercules!!
Friday overnights 18-49 (previous weeks in parentheses):
2.4 (----) (----) (----) Angels Vs. Yankees
2.0 (2.1) (1.7) (2.2) Ghost Whisperer
2.0 (1.5) (1.6) (2.3) 20/20
1.9 (1.9) (1.8) (2.0) Medium
1.8 (1.6) (1.6) (1.7) Numbers
1.6 (1.5) (1.2) (1.3) Law & Order
1.4 (----) (----) (----) Ugly Betty
1.3 (----) (----) (----) Secrets of the Lost Symbol
1.2 (1.4) (1.5) (1.5) The Jay Leno Show
1.1 (0.9) (0.9) (1.0) Smallville
0.6 (0.5) (0.5) (0.5) America’s Next Top Model (r)
* The move from Thursday was not pretty for “Ugly Betty,” which is now the lowest-rated show on ABC (behind even “Eastwick,” “Hank” and “Shark Tank”). It fell 58% from its 2008 premiere.
* “Leno” plummeted to another personal low. The lowest 18-49 score for “Leno” on any night before Friday was a 1.4.
* Despite the ugly performance from lead-in “Betty,” “20/20” made a huge 33% upward jump in 18-49 with a story about a very angry vineyard worker who two decades ago murdered co-workers and most of his own family, and the now-twentysomething daughter who survived the massacre.
* “Law & Order,” “Numbers” and “Smallville,” all hit their best numbers in what is proving a disastrous season for all three series. “Law” remains NBC’s lowest-rated drama. On CBS, only “Cold Case” drew a worse number than “Numbers” this week. On The CW, only the new “Melrose Place” currently pulls a smaller audience in 18-49 than the adventures of young Clark Kent.
* “Secrets of the Lost Symbol,” Matt Lauer’s informercial-ish NBC special looking at the new book by “Da Vinci Code” author Dan Brown, scored lower in 18-49 overnights than any Friday edition of “Dateline” this season.
Find James Hibberd’s analysis here.

I didn't even know Ugly Betty was back, not that I watch it. But considering how much ABC I've been watching lately I'm surprised I didn't see an advertisement or anything for it. Also, I'm confused why The CW thought it was a good idea to resurrect Melrose Place. Haven't there been dozens of MP-type shows since the first version debuted in the 1990s? It's not fresh or original anymore, so why even bother bringing back the name? Was there really that much unexplored mythology? If you're going to resurrect anything, bring back Twin Peaks or something interesting.

I'm not a Ventures fan, but why not just post the audio and let the AICN readers listen to it and try and figure out what is being said? Transcribing it (especially when it's noisy) can be a real headache.

does the WB even care about ratings?...all their shows seem get a 1.0 or below and yet they seem to never cancel them...Top Model is in like its 10th season now...Smallville will never leave...Melrose will probably get renewed as well...what does it take for a CW show to be considered low rated, -1 rating?...they should move Dollhouse to the WB and it can be their ratings powerhouse

"SMALLVILLE delivered its largest audience (2.62mil) and best adults 18-49 (1.1/4) of the season.
In fact, this was our best performance in the time period in these categories since our last Smackdown on 9/26/08. Adults 18-34 remains steady at a 1.1/4.
SMALLVILLE ranked second in the hour among men 18-34 (1.3/6) and men 18-49 (1.3/5) beating the big 3.
Versus comedies a year ago, SMALLVILLE is up by 38% in adults 18-34, 117% in men 18-34, 38% in adults 18-49, 117% in men 18-49 and 46% in viewers.

The Jay Leno show costs almost nothing to make and NBC makes a barrel of money whether anyone watches or not. What NBC promised advertisers was that seasonal numbers would exceed a certain number of which right now it is. With reruns of other shows just around the corner, many more will tune in to Leno and his advertisers will be very happy, as will be NBC. On another topic, this is probably the last season for "Betty" since it was barely rescued last year, and CW threw a truck load of money at Tom Welling to return in "Smallville". Something they will not do next year. Melrose will not last the year, Supernatural is gone after this year and I imagine it will not be long before the CW is done for good, although "The Vampire Diaries" is currently exceeding expectations. Mostly though, it is way too early to predict anything accurately. Things will become more clear after November sweeps.

Friday's episode of Smallville pulled in 2.67 million viewers and was #1 in its demographics for the night. Your continued bias of this show really demonstrates your ignorance. For the record, here are the ratings for a few CW shows this past week...
90210 - 2.1 million
One Tree Hill - 2.19 million
Gossip Girl - 2.07 million
Melrose Place - 1.5 million
America's Next Top Model - 1.3
That's not including any of the lame sitcoms that the network may still be showing. Fact is, Smallville is the #3 show on the network, and in fact was the #2 show for the network this past week, having beaten Supernatural in the ratings. It also continues to give CW its highest Friday night ratings in over a year. So...learn your facts before you spew your hate, and make something sound like a failure, when it isn't.

Get the real scoop over there. That and Zap2It is the place to go for ratings. Ever since AICN started doing these "ratings" posts, it's been nothing but spin and lies. It's like Fox news up in this bitch.

How are they lies? He's giving you the numbers, is he lying about Leno's low ratings? He's editorializing because, well, that's kind of what they do here at Ain't It Cool News. Yes, he spins things to sound better for some shows, but nobody is forcing you to read his editorials and he gives you a link to a site that has the numbers and very little commentary. So, I don't really understand your problem with how Herc is doing things. If you don't like it then don't read it. There are a lot of us who actually do like it, so why rain on our parade?

Tom Shales at the WaPo seems to be cheerleading a Comcast takeover on the theory that a media company would run NBC better than a defense contractor -- gee ya think -- and he also reveals that Leno not only killed dramatic programming at NBC by taking its time slots, but also by insisting that nothing "depressing" air as his lead-in. With football on Sunday and nobody watching on Saturday, it's now virtually impossible to have a scripted drama on NBC as long as Leno is there.

Kiss free Hulu goodbye. Comcast has made it clear they are very unsettled by free streaming tv because people are ending their cable, figuring they can just catch shows online. I would expect Comcast to introduce a system where it's only free if you're a comcast cable customer, otherwise it has a fee.<p>
And yes I know that NBC is not the only investor in Hulu but Fox is also and Murdoch has made it clear he's against free online stuff.

Smallville can't seem to win in Herc's eyes. Here's the best numbers this season for the show and Herc labels it "disastrous" even though its the best showing by anything on CW in a year in that time slot. And--SV is still one of the most watched shows on any night of the entire network. I think that says a lot for a 9 year old show. Can't a decent sci-fi show get some respect on this site?

Blaming Smallville's "disastrous" ratings is a lot like moving my living room set to the middle lane on I-5. "Wow, his sofa/loveseat combo looks pretty, but everyone who sat in it last year was so comfy, and this year, everybody who sits there dies horribly. This doesn't bode well for his career as a decorator." The CW obviously plans to ramp down Smallville in the very near future, and moved it to Friday night to make way for something new. Do you think they expected Thursday ratings to hold steady on Friday in Smallville's target demo? Do you think they haven't heard of DVRs? This entire discussion is just blabbering.

Warner Bros. indeed threw barrels of money at Mr. Welling, but it was so that they would have him on a leash not just for this year, but an option for SEASON 10 (should it go ahead), as well. Most of the rest of the cast will follow, sans Mack. Additionally, word is that Durance has been told not to book any feature films for 2010-2011, as if a 10th year happens, she will be in EVERY single episode for the first time. Most seem to get the doublespeak going on here, but the fact that Smallville's Friday night audience went UP, gaining its highest ratings for the season, bodes well for upcoming eps, as well as a 10th season. Plus, this franchise continues to make millions through DVD sales and foreign syndication, which may indeed be the ultimate turnover factor in its constant renewal.

deserves so much better1sisto and anderson are excellent,the scripts have been exceptional and fridays was one of the best in the last 5 years.fuckin leno is killing nbc!this show needs it's old slot back!

The show has always been unwatchable. Most of the characters are incredibly unlikable and cliche. Only thing that it had going for it was the industry decided that it was trendy for awhile. As a result it gone a ton of buzz, publicity and some interest from the public. With the buzz gone, this horrible show will hopefully end up cancelled soon.

I feel like they basically rebooted Smallville over the last two seasons, and I can say personally I feel this new Season is the strongest season yet. Clark is finally manning up as he gets close to hitting age 30 lol (He was like 18 when the show started right (in the show context)) Now they just need to make him Fly and get a villian he doesn't take down in one episode. (Sanctuary has the same budget as Smallville and those villian battles are awesome)

"The Jay Leno show costs almost nothing to make and NBC makes a barrel of money whether anyone watches or not. What NBC promised advertisers was that seasonal numbers would exceed a certain number of which right now it is. With reruns of other shows just around the corner, many more will tune in to Leno and his advertisers will be very happy, as will be NBC."<br><br>
Yeah, NBC is estatic that Leno has destroyed their L&O franchise which were both rating winners last year and neither are getting ratings this year (SVU went from first to fourth place in their timeslot) and SVU is very expensive to produce and cannot be canceled (the two leads just singed expensive two year contracts). <br><br>
Local affiliates are consulting their lawyers to find out a way to dump Leno for their own local news at 10 PM. It is only time before the local stations in large markets like NY, LA, Chicago and Boston (Boston tried to drop Leno before it even aired) revolt.<br><br>
Leno has been a disaster for NBC. He may be profitable, but he is also dragging down the rest of the network. Their late night ratings are in the toilet. Many dramas have lost significant ratings from last year because NBC is forced to put some of their better rated shows from 2008 in far too competitive timeslots or in Friday hell. NBC bought 13 episodes of Southland and decided not to air the show at all.

...be cut to the point where production values are more in line with how Guiding Light was produced in its final years (shot on handheld prosumer digicams, cramped sets doubling as production offices when not in use, etc...)?<p>

You know, just because your hero Howard Stern hates Jay Leno, doesn't mean you have to, Herc. Howard Stern, the lazy asshole who almost broke a sattelite company taking a ridiculously overpaid salary and then puts zero work into his show. Your hero only works 4 days a week, 40 weeks a year. He also relies on 50 other people to do his show. Hardly anything he says or does himself anymore is funny. He's a no talent hack that has fooled his now miniscule amount of listeners that he is somehow still edgy and funny. He's actually just creepy now. He's a pornographer and has on girls younger than his daughters come in and sit on a masturbation machine while a room full of ugly 40 and 50 year olds stare at them. It's disgusting. He's also a liar. He told his listeners for two years that the merger between Sirius and XM would be great for the customers. It's actually worse, now. Not only do you not get more channels (you have to pay extra to get the channels of the other company you didn't have), they came up with some supposed new "liscensing fee" where everyone is now charged $2 extra on top of the $12.95 a month they were paying. So, he told everyone that would listen for 2 straight years that service would be better and you'd have more options when the merger happened. Instead, the cost when from $13 a month to $20 a month if you wanted XM, too. He's a hypocritical, lying scumbag pornographer...<p>And that's why I like Jay Leno better than your hero, Herc...

along with Billy and Jackie; and once Buchwald got him his Sirius gig it really went to shit. I don't need to pay $13/month to listen to girls whore themselves on his show..I can see that shit for free on the interwebs. And you are right...it is a half assed show..no jokes, no originality; instead they rely on the freedom to say "Fuck" and to Masturbate on air to hide the fact they lost their touch about a decade ago.</p><p>Now days...it is all about listening to the Junkie kill himself, Stern crow about the girl he bought, and Robin blather on incoherently at will...God Robin is a fucking nut case..her Ham Handed dad should stopped fucking her long enough to knock some fucking sense into her thats for sure.

"Oh howard isn't funny anymore I am so cool..."
You are a dumb monkey. The HSS still makes me laugh my ass off on my way to work/at work all morning. What are you listening to that is so funny? The HSS has actually been funny as hell these past few weeks. You don't know what the fuck you are talking about. It has genuinely been really funny.

that's funny? He's just mean. I'm not even denying the show is occasionally funny. However, he relies on a cast of dozens of others to provide the material. He himself just brings in losers that work on the show from time to time and berates them. He makes a hundred million a year while the make $30,000 a year living in Manhatten. I used to listen to the show years ago when Jackie was on and he was on E! It was funny. Then, when I moved to North Carolina I didn't hear his show for years. Then, when I got a new car a few years ago, I had Sirius Installed, not specifically for him, but it just sealed the deal. I listened to him again for a few months but his show became hard to listen to. He's extremely mean for no reason and he has on little stripper girls younger than his daughters and exploits them by having them masturbate on camera. How is he any different than Larry Flynt? He's lazy, he only workd for days a week, sometimes less, only works 2 weeks at a time, and counts on others to be funny for him. Not to mention he let that disgustingly gross, obese heroine addict run the show. The fact he won't fire that piece of shit takes away any ability to effectively make fun of people like him like he loves to do. There were aspects of his show that were funny but I found myself turning him off more and more till eventually I don't even sample what he's doing anymore. I always found him fascinating when he would talk to celebrities because he would get them to talk about things they wouldn't in any other forum. However, he has more and more whores and porn-stars on his show and all their interviews sound just like the previous ones. Not to mention you've got a room full of extremely ugly, 40 and 50 year olds drooling over them. It's sickening. If that's what you enjoy, keep listening. However, he just doesn't do anything interesting for me to find worth listening to anymore.<p>As far as what else there is to listen to in the morning, why do you have to laugh at someone making fun of retards and whores in the morning to start your day? There are 150 options on your Sirius Radio. I either listen to music, or talk shows, or the comedy stations. There's plenty of ways to be entertained without hearing about the sex lives of C-List Celebrities and making fun of the mentally handicapped...

It's got heart and damn good, witty as hell writing. The new arc with the murder on the boat is lame but overall it's a wonderful show. The ratings are down because they fucking moved it to Friday. Dumbasses. Way to shit on the only other decent show you have besides Lost, ABC. And I have news for you. Flashforward is dull as dirt so you may want to think about switching slots with UB.

Look man, if you never were a fan of Howards then just say that. Fine. No problem. But how he is with the challenged isn't all that different today then he used to be. And he by no means is mean to any of them. In fact he treats them faaar better then a normal person would. Take for example his new intern, Terrets Pete. He is getting him laid. Yea what an asshole Howie is. How about Eric the midget. That dude is 3 feet tall and club footed and shit. Got him laid a bunch of times. You are insane dude. He is a better daddy to them then there own dads. <P>
And the shit you are saying about his treatment of chicks is so fucking off base you should just flat out apologize. Man, Howard is way more respectful to young girls then he ever used to be. In fact he isn't even wanting some girls to get naked because they are too young, or look to young today. Now if there is a stripper chick or pornstar on, yea... he is probably going to want them to ride the Sybian.

he's always either whining about somebody or talking about how amazing beth-o is, its painful. Opie and Anthony are even worse, Anthony used to do some of the funniest skits/ impressions I have ever heard and now its all bullshit.

Howard was never funny because he was "cool." He is funny because he has issues and is a fucked mental case no matter how many times he sees his therapist in a week. You haven't been listening lately obviously because the show has been fantastic. And Robin is crazier (nuttier) then ever. I can't wait to see what will become of Artie now that it looks like he has had a pretty bad breakdown. Sounds like they are letting him go. This is a new era for the Howard Stern Show. But the show is very entertaining. And to the previous comment regarding the guests. Every fan knows the show is better when there aren't the celebrities on (even though Howard is the best interviewer). Terrets Pete is the new BeetleJuice/Hank the Dwarf, and is funny as hell. The shows great. Howard is still mental, and the show in general has a new energy.

Leno sold his soul long ago, trading his brass humor in for millions and a shitload of cars. Take that you sell out! I hope you and Tim Allen all go to a special kind of hell, the one reserved for the one's who exubarantly sell themselves to corporations.

I don't like what his show has become. I went about 5 or 6 years without listening to him at all and started up again. He is LAZY. He lets others be funny for him now. Ever since Jackie left, he doesn't speak as much as he used to and he relies WAYYY to much on his loser staff to come in and make asses of themselves. You could say he creates humorous situations but you still haven't said what he specifically himself says that is particularly funny...<p>As far as treating women good, seriously, dude. What are you talking about? He has on 20 year old girls that are strippers and porn stars and pressures them to ride on "The Sybian", a masturbation machine. How is that different that being a pornographer like Larry Flynt or Vivid Video? Oh yeah, that's right, at least pornographers pay these whores... He has on girls almost every day that are younger than his daughters and he has them get naked and ride a masturbation machine while a bunch of ugly, loser 40 year olds stand around and drool. If that's your thing, by all means keep listening...

At some point in your life. There is no way you are seeing reality like this. "Pressures them to ride the Sybian." You have to be kidding. He is always saying shit like "Hey, you want to ride the Sybian?" and the are like, "Oooh yea baby anything for you Howard." <p>
I think maybe Artie, and his tweaker relapses just hit to close to home for you because you are not interpreting things very clear even when they are right there in front of you. People just think its cool to talk shit about the show, like you did. Yea, Howard sucks today...fuuuuck you very much. Howards genius comes in the way of how he facilitates things. The way he stirs shit up. And you know, chicks didn't just start masturbating and getting off on the HSS recently. This has gone on for awhile. Just because its more hardcore on sirius also doesn't mean its not funny. Like Gary has to operate the Sybian but no one wants to see Bababooie's face next to the chick. So they have him wear like a bees keepers mask on or a Knights helmet when the chick is taking care of her business. Its actually a very small part of the show. Making fun of the co workers has also always been a big part of the show. And the fights between them. <p>
A lot of the complaints are strange because many of them are about things that have been mainstays since... forever. The difference between Howard and Larry Flint is that Howard is not only very respectful and cool to the ladies, but is also running a comedy show. I think his comedy show is still funny and it makes me laugh in the morning. I am still very entertained by it, and I like everyone involved for many different reasons. I have been a listener from way back in the day. Things have evolved as I have. That is life. Some people will never except Chinese Democracy because it isn't Appetite for Destruction. Others recognize it as a masterpiece. Now, maybe the Howard Stern show isn't masterpiece entertainment but, its still funny. Its still interesting. Especially recently which any complaining today is really off base.

...needs time to build a Friday audience.Its a good show that deserves a chance.Sex things up a bit like a REAL tele-novela and put it on @ 10pm and it'll slay Leno.Mark my words.UB will hit this season and be back for season 5.